time to change name on Middle-east?

[Wildfire_MM]

this region lays in Western Asia and not in the middle. India lays in the middle

let’s chage it to Western Asia

[Colibri]

Okey dokey.

Are you planning to call up all the news agencies and dictionary publishers to inform them of this momentous insight?

[Zeldar]

Isn’t it true that some of the Northeastern African region is included in the generic Middle East designation?

[susan]

I’d like to change North America to South Canada while we’re at it.
How is this GQ?

[Canadjun]

@Wildfire**MM

this region lays in Western Asia and not in the middle. India lays in the middle

let’s chage it to Western Asia

It’s currently the Middle-east, not Middle-asia. So, why should we change the name?

[GorillaMan]

@Zeldar

Isn’t it true that some of the Northeastern African region is included in the generic Middle East designation?

Yep, few people would exclude Egypt from the definition, not least because of its integral role in the politics of the region. And to the OP - the term Central Asia is already in common use, referring to the region from the Caucasus across to Mongolia, perhaps taking in parts of Pakistan and India but certainly not covering the whole of the latter.

[Zeldar]

While we’re on the general subject, does anybody have any official borders for Europe, Asia and Africa? I know about the Urals as a major demarcation between Europe and Asia, but they run out as you head south and there’s still a lot of ground left to be covered. And what’s the official border between Africa and Asia?

Seems to me everything in that region is pretty arbitrary.

Same applies to North and South America.

[ultrafilter]

Before this gets booted out of GQ, I’ve run into the terms middle east and far east before, but never the near east. Has that been used, and if so, what did it describe?

[Zeldar]

@ultrafilter

Before this gets booted out of GQ, I’ve run into the terms middle east and far east before, but never the near east. Has that been used, and if so, what did it describe?

I think the term dates back to the “Middle Ages” – another fuzzy term. There’s also The Levant for part of that region. At times I’ve seen Near East refer to parts of Eastern Europe, like the Balkan states and into Turkey. You pretty much have to pick a source for the period of time being discussed. Fuzzy area, for sure.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@ultrafilter

Before this gets booted out of GQ, I’ve run into the terms middle east and far east before, but never the near east. Has that been used, and if so, what did it describe?

Oooh, look. A factual question in GQ! What a novelty!

Anyway, from Wiki:

The Near East is a term commonly used by archaeologists, geographers and historians, less commonly by journalists and commentators, to refer to the region encompassing Anatolia (modern Turkey), the Levant (modern Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), Armenia, and Mesopotamia (Iraq and eastern Syria). The alternative term Middle East — preferred in some political and economic contexts — is not used by Near Eastern archaeologists and historians. An alternative non-Eurocentric designation in recent years has been ‘Southwest Asia’, although this term has yet to achieve widespread use.

[xash]

Moved to Middle PSIMS.

-xash
General Questions Moderator

[RealityChuck]

@Zeldar

While we’re on the general subject, does anybody have any official borders for Europe, Asia and Africa? I know about the Urals as a major demarcation between Europe and Asia, but they run out as you head south and there’s still a lot of ground left to be covered. And what’s the official border between Africa and Asia?

Seems to me everything in that region is pretty arbitrary.

Same applies to North and South America.

It is arbitrary. We’re not talking about countries, with set borders. These are regions, and until a region becomes independent and sets borders, it’s all in a state of flux.

And it doesn’t matter where a country is. Yes, there are organizations that are set up upon continental lines (e.g., Organization of American States), but those are arbitrary; if a country from Asia wanted to join the OAS, then it’s up to the OAS to accept them, and if they felt China had something to bring to the organization, then they’d let them in.

Continents are geographical, but not political designations, and the definition is one of convenience, not consistency.

[According_to_Pliny]

@Wildfire**MM

let’s chage it to Western Asia

Makes sense to me.
I used to prefer Near East, but some people thought that was old fashioned.
I guess I learned it from old professors.

[Annie]

In Culture of Complaint, Australian Robert Hughes wrote about his father calling China and Japan the “Far East” rather than the “Near North”.

I’d suggest calling the region “Islamica”. I think that would piss off just about everyone.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Zeldar

And what’s the official border between Africa and Asia?

That would be the border between Israel (or Palestine, depending on your POV) and Egypt. A few miles east of the Suez.

[Zeldar]

In pursuit of some “official” or at least “semi-official” definition of the boundaries of the continents, I found this Wikipedia article which tends to support the idea that except for Antarctica and Australia, the continents’ demarcations from each other are predominantly arbitrary, at least from a geological standpoint.

That was what I had hoped to get some answers on in my earlier post in this thread.

If anyone has an authoritative refutation of the Wiki article, please post a link to it.

[According_to_Pliny]

@Zeldar

In pursuit of some “official” or at least “semi-official” definition of the boundaries of the continents, I found this Wikipedia article which tends to support the idea that except for Antarctica and Australia, the continents’ demarcations from each other are predominantly arbitrary, at least from a geological standpoint.

That was what I had hoped to get some answers on in my earlier post in this thread.

If anyone has an authoritative refutation of the Viki article, please post a link to it.

I thought the Urals, like the Himalayas, were formed by the collision of tectonic plates. That Asia, Europe, and India rest on separate plates. Where odd bits like Arabia and Turkey fit into this is something that could be looked up.

[Zeldar]

Please note that in my original post #16 , it reads:

“If anyone has an authoritative refutation of the Wiki article, please post a link to it.”

But in According to Pliny’s quote of it, it reads:

“If anyone has an authoritative refutation of the Viki article, please post a link to it.”

How did “Wiki” become “Viki”? Magic?

Please note that my post #16 has not been edited.

I must assume that the quoted text was modified (either deliberately or not) in the quoting process. Anybody notice things like this elsewhere?

Not a big deal, just weird.

[marshmallow]

Yeah, and Indiana is in the “U.S. midwest” even though we’re sometimes in the eastern timezone. Like now.